LEARNING HOW TO PRAY: AND FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS

“He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.”

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr

There is perhaps no greater revealing of the Kingdom of God here on the earth than forgiveness. More powerful than anything to heal and dissuade evil men and women from doing horrible things. Today on Martin Luther King, Jr Day our study of the Lord’s Prayer turns to forgiveness.

In our modern world we celebrate something today that I think so many of us forget. The life of a man dedicated to peacefully protesting an evil that ran so rampant in our country through our governing agencies at the top right down to the streets of our own neighborhoods.

King was not only a banner holder, an activist, or a prophet against racism. He was a model of Christ’s forgiveness to a world that would have none of him. I won’t pretend that MLK was a perfect man, he was not. (none of us are) But what King heralded from pulpits and meeting halls all over this great nation of ours was a powerful message of the love of Christ and the forgiveness we need ourselves and should show to our enemies.

Forgiveness of our Debts

When Jesus told us to pray “and forgive us our debts…”, He was telling us to acknowledge that we owe God something. I don’t know if you think of this very often, but you are not perfect. At times you get glimpses of this when you realize you aren’t in control of the people or circumstances around you. You are at the mercy of forces beyond your ability to control them. And your reaction to those circumstances is often that of self-preservation. The ability to see something we don’t want to see is the beginning of understanding how to pray and approach God in humility.

“And forgive us our debts…”

We have to see our sinfulness before we can say this phrase.

“And forgive us our debts…”

We have to acknowledge that sin exists.

“And forgive us our debts…”

We have to recognize our inability to rescue ourselves from our own wrecked souls.

“And forgive us our debts…”

We must approach God with a heart willing to accept that it is not right between us and God.

Jesus’ Story of the Unforgiving Servant

Jesus told a story about unforgiveness to illustrate why we need it and why we need to extend it to others. I encourage you to look for yourself in the story today. This story is found in Matthew Chapter 18:

Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how many times could my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times? ”

“I tell you, not as many as seven,” Jesus said to him, “but 70 times seven.For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began to settle accounts, one who owed 10,000 talentswas brought before him. Since he had no way to pay it back, his master commanded that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt.

At this, the slave fell face-down before him and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything! ’Then the master of that slave had compassion, released him, and forgave him the loan.

But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him 100 denarii.He grabbed him, started choking him, and said, ‘Pay what you owe! ’

At this, his fellow slave fell downand began begging him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’But he wasn’t willing. On the contrary, he went and threw him into prison until he could pay what was owed. When the other slaves saw what had taken place, they were deeply distressed and went and reported to their master everything that had happened.

Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you? ’ And his master got angry and handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed. So My heavenly Father will also do to you if each of you does not forgive his brotherfrom hisheart.”

The Debt we Owe

Forgiveness begins with acknowledging you and I have a debt that we owe. It is not a financial debt as the parable describes. It is a sin debt. Our sin separates us from God. We have to recognize that this is the reason we are soulstuck.

Sin is missing the mark. It is knowing that there is a standard and then, either by choice or by nature, choosing to operate at a lower standard. Whether we want to admit it or not, we are in debt to God, and we need forgiveness for it.

Our problem with sin is that we cannot always clearly define which sins we are committing. There are sins that are open, flagrant, and obvious acts of disobedience to God. But then there is the sin you commit without even knowing it because your nature is sinful. Despite what popular opinion is, you and I are not born good and then we learn sin. Sin is in us from birth. It has been passed down to us from generation to generation through our ancestors, stemming all the way from Adam and Eve.

Our refusal to believe the story of the origin of sin is our undoing. As long as we deny that sin lies dormant in us from birth like a disease we cannot find the cure for, then we will never look for the remedy.

Forgiveness is that remedy. And Jesus is the cure.

When we pray “Forgive us our sins” we are letting God in on our dirty little secrets. And when we do that, we find that He still loves us anyway.

A final word from MLK, Jr

A powerful talk delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr on forgiveness can be found here. I encourage you to learn more about this great man and the life he lived. His story is about more than just healing between the races. His life is a picture of the gospel and what happens when the Kingdom comes.